broker than the Ten Commandments

A pun on the sense of broke 'without money' and broken, with potential reference both to Moses' destruction ('breaking') of the tablets on Mount Sinai (Exodus 32:19) and sinners' violation ('breaking') of the Ten Commandments in daily life.

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broker than the Ten Commandments (comparative form only)

1. (simile, humorous, dated) Extremely impoverished.
   • 2018, Tara Westover, Educated:

     I needed money—Dad would have said I was broker than the Ten Commandments—so I went to get my old job back...

• See Thesaurus:impoverished